By Joe Rector
Forgive me for not understanding what’s going on in this world. Not much makes sense anymore. Computers, cell phones, and iPads confound me. I’m not sure that all the gadgets in my car are working right now. I open the hood of the vehicle and just stand there; nothing other than the windshield wiper fluid container is familiar. Even so, this week, I once again met the bogeyman.
I was born in 1952, so that means I entered this world with the U.S. involved in a war just after World War II. In elementary school, we practiced hiding under our desks and walking home so that we’d be ready for a nuclear attack.
By the time I reached high school, the Vietnam War was raging. On our eighteenth birthday, my friends and I filled out the appropriate paperwork to register for the draft. Several guys had such low lottery numbers that they joined branches of the service to avoid the army. Some of us had student deferments, and I worked hard to maintain that status to earn a degree. The country was divided about support for that war, and many battles were fought between the two sides. It was a nasty situation. Even today, few people realize that the Vietnam War began in 1955 and ended in 1975.
Life settled down for a while, but then George H. Bush went nuts on Iraq and started the Persian Gulf War. After the disgusting attack on the towers in New York, George W. decided he would finish what his father had started. For the next twenty years, U.S. troops were mired in a war that couldn’t be won. Thankfully, our president finally withdrew troops from Afghanistan to put an end to our country’s involvement, but even that turned out to be a bloody mess.
This week, the U.S. took steps to once again stick the necks of young soldiers into another war. This one is against Iran. No doubt, Iran has been led by some of the evilest folks the world has ever seen. The leaders have funneled money to many groups that are determined to terrorize our country and its citizens. No one wants Iran to have nuclear capabilities, but that was one of the reasons we’ve been given for the attack. Most informed institutions declare that Iran was at least a decade away from posing a threat to the U.S. We have no idea how long this war will last or how many people will be destroyed in it.
The point of this is not to blame one party or person for this predicament. What I’m trying to point out is that at this point in my life, one which has been blessed, I have lived 63 years of my life with our country entangled in some wars in some place. Too many of our young men have died on foreign soil. Surely to goodness, a country with people so wise and educated and skilled can figure out a way to live without having its past, present, and future scarred by brutal ways of killing and maiming others. If not, we are a doomed world.
